


The One Where Annabeth Pets Cats When She's Sad

by kksunflowerbaby



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: AU, AU prompt, Annabeth Chase - Freeform, Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson Fluff, Athena is a cat, Cute, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fluff, Imagine your OTP, Meet-Cute, OTP Feels, POV Percy Jackson, Prompt Fic, Protective Percy, otp, percy jackson - Freeform, pinterest prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-28
Updated: 2018-10-28
Packaged: 2019-08-09 06:02:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16444214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kksunflowerbaby/pseuds/kksunflowerbaby
Summary: Prompt: I work in the animal shelter and you come in and pet the cats when you’re sad.OTP Annabeth and Percy. I just can't stop writing them.





	The One Where Annabeth Pets Cats When She's Sad

Percy knew he would work with animals in some way eventually when he was five years old. His mother had gotten a dog for their small family and Percy loved that dog with his entire being. When the dog passed away his junior year of college, he was devastated. While still working on his degree, Percy found a job at the animal shelter next to his university. It was good money and would show well on his resume for after college. 

Another bonus of working at the shelter was being able to pet any dog he wanted at any time. Cleaning up after them was the worst part, but when the dogs would wag their tails at him when he pet them made up for it. Percy really was a dog person, through and through. 

Percy would also study for his classes when it wasn’t busy. The man who owned the shelter, Chiron, allowed Percy to study whenever he needed to as long as he would finish his duties around the shelter. Percy knew he was extremely lucky to have such an understanding boss.

On this particular day, he was studying for his finance exam. He had just finished feeding the cats, which was one of his easier tasks. He loved Tuesdays because they were the most laidback day of the week at the shelter. They didn’t get too many visitors, but when they did, it was usually a family browsing around. 

It was just past six pm, later than most families would come in. Percy’s shift ended at ten, so he had made himself comfortable with his notes and laptop hours ago. He had reviewed the first three chapters and he had two more to cover. 

The tiny bell perched above the entrance to the shelter trilled its little tune as the door opened. Percy looked up from his notes to see a young woman come in. Her blonde hair was tied back in a low ponytail with her shorter hairs framing her face. She was wearing jeans and a regular orange color which actually suited her. 

“Hi, welcome to Olympus Shelter!” Percy greeted her, closing his textbook as he stood. “Can I help you with anything?”

The woman glanced up from the puppy display she had been looking at. Percy was surprised at how grey her eyes were. A light sprinkle of freckles dusted her nose. She was even prettier up close. “Do you have cats here?”

“Yeah, we do,” Percy smiled. “We have tabbies, calicos, black cats, white cats—”

“Is there any way I can pet them? My apartment doesn’t allow pets but I love cats and they always cheer me up,” the woman said in a rush. “I promise I’ll buy something, like a keychain if I have to.”

Percy chuckled. “Oh, that won’t be necessary. You can pet the cats in the back! I pet the dogs all the time when I’m feeling down, so I totally understand.”

“Thank you,” she said, giving him a small smile. 

The woman followed Percy towards the back. He opened the back door for her and showed her where the cats were kept. They each had their own individual cage with a small bed, food, and water. The cages were larger than normal so that the cats had space to move around if they wanted to. 

Percy looked at the woman out of the corner of his eye. She was looking at one cat in particular. She was a smaller grey cat, almost similar to her own eyes, with haunting yellow eyes. The cat tilted her head to the side and the woman mirrored her. 

“That one’s name is Athena,” Percy told her. “She’s one of my favorites.”

The woman beside him gave a small hum as she reached through the bars and offered her hand to Athena. The cat moved forward slowly and sniffed, before rubbing her head against her hand. 

“You can stay as long as you’d like,” Percy said. “We close at nine and my name is Percy if you need anything else.”

“I’m Annabeth,” she answered, turning her head and smiling fully. Percy blinked at her beauty. “Thank you for this.”

“Of course,” Percy replied, smiling in return. “I’ll be out front.”

As he returned to the front of the shelter, he found himself wanting to stay in the back room with Annabeth. She was gorgeous and Athena liked her. It took weeks for her to warm up to Percy like she did to Annabeth in seconds. Athena was a good judge of character. 

Percy resumed his studies, breaking his train of thought occasionally to think of the woman just a dozen yards away. Time passed slowly, but Percy didn’t want it to end. He was enthralled by the woman of few words. She didn’t look too upset, but she had mentioned how she needed to cheer up. 

At a quarter to nine, Percy knew he needed to tell her that he was going to start closing up soon. He needed to clean more cages and walk some of the dogs around the neighborhood before locking up at ten. He entered the back room and saw Annabeth sitting next to Athena’s cage. She had opened the cage and had Athena purring on her lap. 

“And he said he only saw me as a little sister,” she was murmuring to the small cat. “On the same day as my speech on the history of architecture that was worth over sixty percent of my entire grade! I was devastated.”

Athena made a small mewling sound as if agreeing with the blonde woman. Annabeth smiled sadly down at the feline curled up against her. She looked up and saw Percy in the doorway. She flushed a light pink. 

“Sorry, I know I should have asked first, but she was so cute-”

Percy cut her off with a small wave of his hand. “It’s alright, I’ve done the same thing loads of times. She likes you a lot.”

“I feel the same way,” Annabeth said, gazing down at the cat again and rubbing her head. 

“I just wanted to tell you that we’re closing up soon,” he said. “I need to lock the front door in a couple minutes.”

“Of course!” Annabeth stood, moving Athena smoothly from her lap back into her cage. She closed the metal gate and walked to the front of the shelter with Percy. “Thank you, I really appreciate it.”

“Come back any time,” Percy insisted. “Whenever you want, I mean it. Athena will probably miss you.”

“I will,” Annabeth promised. “Thank you, Percy.”

With that, she disappeared through the front door. That was the first time he met Annabeth, and he was already looking forward to the next time. 

_A week later_

Percy was quite pleased with himself. He had aced his finance exam and helped three families find the animals of their dreams. It had been a productive week for the shelter. All the same, Percy found himself hoping that the allusive blonde would return. 

Every day, the bell above the door would tinkle and Percy would look up, hoping to see tanned skin and startling grey eyes. But it would be someone else, and his hopes would dim a little bit. 

But a week after meeting her, Percy saw Annabeth again. He was walking to class, chatting with his friend Grover about how hard the pop quiz has been when he saw her. She had her hair piled on top of her head in a bun today, with her nose buried in a thick textbook. She was walking towards the library. 

Since when did she go to his university? It made sense, though. She looked the same age as him, and had the look of a college student. The shelter was less than a mile or so from his college so it was close enough that her coming would make sense. 

Before Percy could call out her name or try to get her attention, she had disappeared through the doors. Percy and Grover had to get to their next class, so he didn’t have time to detour. He frowned, disappointed that he had missed his opportunity to talk to her again. 

_Three days later_

Percy was slumped over the front desk. It was half past seven and he was bored. He had already fed all of the animals and cleaned half the cages. He had taken three puppies on a walk together, which was not an easy task. 

He needed to finish his accounting homework, but he didn’t have the motivation. It wasn’t due for another week, so he had plenty of time to procrastinate. Maybe he could just finish one problem-

“Hey, Percy!” 

The bell above the door rang out its tune as the door opened. Percy looked up and saw Annabeth. She smiled tightly as she closed the door behind her. Her hair was down from its bun and framed her face. 

“Annabeth, hi,” Percy said, pleasantly surprised to see the beautiful blonde again. “Come back to pet more cats?”

“You got me,” she said, coming further into the shelter. As she came closer, he saw her grey eyes were rimmed with a bit of red. 

Had she been crying?

“Did Athena miss me?” Annabeth asked, her voice a bit husky compared to a few weeks ago. 

“Yes, she did!” He didn’t want to see her upset. He opened the door leading to the cat cages and gestured for Annabeth to go on ahead. He knew she knew the way. “I’m sure she’ll be happy to see you.”

“Thank you,” Annabeth said quietly as she passed him. She looked up and her eyes had started watering. She smiled again and headed straight to Athena’s cage. 

“I’ll be out front if you need anything,” Percy said, knowing to leave her to herself. It wasn’t his business why she was upset even though he wished he could fix it. He went back to the front of the shelter. Just before the door closed behind him, he heard Annabeth lightly sob. 

His heart broke for her as he sat down at the front desk. He hoped Athena would cheer her up. 

An hour passed and Percy went back to the cat room to see how she was doing. Like last time, she was in the center of the room with Athena on her lap. She was petting the grey cat softly. 

“Hey,” Percy said, mostly so that she would know he was standing in the doorway. “We’re closing soon and I just wanted to let you know.”

“Okay,” Annabeth replied, scooping Athena up and placing her back in her rightful place. “I really appreciate you letting me do this.”

“I’m glad I can help,” Percy said, putting his hands in his pockets. “Also, we go to the same school.”

“What?” Annabeth looked up from closing Athena’s gate. 

“I saw you on campus a few days ago,” he told her. “Near the library, actually.”

“I spend most of my time there, so that would be logical,” Annabeth gave a small chuckle. “I’m a junior architecture major.”

“I’m a junior business major,” Percy said. “How do you like it?”

“Oh, I love architecture,” she answered, smiling softly. “It’s fascinating.”

The bell out front rang. Percy turned and looked over his shoulder. A tall blond man had just come in. 

“I’ll be right back,” Percy told her. 

Annabeth had crept forward and looked over his shoulder to see the man coming in. She made a small noise and retreated back into the cat room. 

“I’m not here!” She whispered frantically. 

Percy didn’t have time to ask her what she meant before the man spotted him and starting walking towards him. Percy quickly shut the door to the cat room behind him and went to greet the stranger. 

“Hi, can I help you?” 

“I’m looking for a blonde girl,” the man said, sounding annoyed. 

Was this the guy Annabeth had been talking about to Athena? 

“We haven’t had anyone in today for a couple of hours,” Percy said. “I don’t remember seeing a blonde.”

The man frowned and moved slightly to try to see what’s behind Percy. He shifted his weight so he remained squared up to the blond man. 

“Hm,” he said. “If you see a blonde girl, tell her Luke wants to talk.”

“Okay,” Percy nodded. He just wanted to get him out of the store. Annabeth obviously didn’t want to be seen and he intended to keep it that way. 

The man turned, muttering under his breath. Percy couldn’t hear what he was saying but it didn’t sound too positive. The bell tinkled as he exited the shelter. A moment of silence passed before the door behind Percy opened. 

“Is he gone?” Annabeth peered from behind the door. 

“Yeah, he’s gone,” Percy said, glancing at the clock on the wall. He went forward and locked the front door so no other guests would come in. “Do you mind if I ask what that was about?”

“That was Luke,” she muttered, a dark look crossing her face. For a second, her expression changed to a saddened expression before going neutral. “Family friend who doesn’t support my major. He thinks I would be better off being an assistant to his company. He pretends to believe in me but I know he just wants me to work for him. I looked up to him, admired him...and this is how he treats me?”

“Why was he looking for you?”

“I told him today that I had no intention of working for him. I want to have my own architecture firm,” she said, a look of determination flashing in her eyes. “I refuse to work for someone who doesn’t think I’m capable of anything.”

“As you should,” Percy said. “I want to work in finance.”

“Why?” Annabeth asked, looking at him with her inquisitive eyes. 

Percy was surprised at her question. When he told people his aspirations, they would congratulate him on such a career and wish him luck. No one asked him why he wanted to go into the finance district. 

“Because…”

“You’re hesitating,” she stated. “Did you even want to be a business major?”

“I did, and I still do,” he answered.

“Then that’s what matters,” she said, smiling gently. She let out a sigh and put her hands in her pockets. “Thank you again, for Luke and for Athena.”

“I’m always here if you need anything,” Percy said meaningfully. 

Annabeth smiled and nodded, understanding him. 

“I’ll see you on Friday,” she said as she walked towards the front door. “I have a midterm that day and I’ll probably need to cheer up with Athena.”

“It’s a date,” Percy said. He panicked internally for a moment before realizing he had meant it. It wasn’t a slip of the tongue, it was what he wanted. 

Annabeth grinned this time, showing all of her teeth. “See you Friday.”

**Epilogue**

Annabeth and Percy began dating after that Friday night. Percy took her out to an Italian dinner and they spent hours talking. They got along so well. After they graduated, Percy proposed to Annabeth. He promised to be there for her in every way, shape, and form. He adopted Athena with her and they moved into a loft apartment together. While she worked on her architecture firm, Percy found success in the financial district. They were happy and successful together.

**Author's Note:**

> I really took my time on this one. I hope you enjoy it!


End file.
